The
Thunderfoot (called "Otorm-Nrv" by the
Ice Tribes) is one of the largest quadrapedic mammals living in the harsh,
northernmost regions of Northern
Sarvonia. It is despite its size a fairly gentle herbivore that is very
loyal to its herd and immediate family. It has been known to be extremely
dangerous when riled up though, or in defense of the herd’s young. Legend has it
that this creature is favoured of Brender, the
Ice Tribe’s Thunder God. The
Ice Tribes have found various uses
for this magnificent beast, and rare is it that the tribesmen will waste any
part of the animal, for its body provides essential parts for the survival of
the tribes in this harsh and unforgiving land.

Appearance.
The first thing one notices about a Thunderfoot is its sheer size. It ranges
anywhere from four and a half to six
peds in height, and is
approximately four to almost six
peds in length, being
anywhere between one and a half to two
peds broad. Its body can be
described as that of a square, albeit a very large one. The Thunderfoot’s back
slopes very gently from its back to its rump, making its front shoulders a
little taller than its back hips.

The animal’s thick, strong legs, end in flat feet with five toes. However, they
are so covered with muscle and fat, that it seems as if they are one wide toe,
with four nails. The creature’s legs and feet make up a little less than half
the its full height.

The beast's head is large, with small black eyes and a big forehead. It has only
a few large, strong molar teeth, used for the consumption of vegetation. The
creature's nose and upper lip combine into a long, limber, multipurpose trunk,
which nearly reaches the ground, and ends in a nose with two fingerlike
appendages. They have thin, wide ears, that are nearly impossible to see, for
they are covered in hair, and are almost always against the animal’s sides.
Should one trim the hair off the ears, they can tell that they are rounded on
top, and straighten to a point at the lowermost part of the ear. The males have
two ped tusks protruding
from the tops of their mouths, which slightly curve outwards in the middle. The
females also have tusks, but they are less then a
ped long.

Thunderfeet are covered in long, thick hair. Looking at an individual hair, one
will notice that it is quite thick, and completely clear, but the creature has
so much of it that it appears white. This is slightly unnerving, especially when
one learns that the Thunderfoot’s skin is a dark shade of charcoal, although it
is rarely seen through the massive amounts of hair. The Thunderfoot has a long
ropey tail, which is also covered in hair, but which is much shorter. Of course,
the only way to see these beasts without their hair is to kill them, which is
why it is rarely seen, and then only by the
Ice Tribes.

Special Abilities.
The prehensile trunk of the Thunderfoot is its most remarkable feature. The very
tip of it ends in a nose, with two fingerlike projections, one on top, and the
other on the bottom, which can pick up items. The trunk itself has enough
strength to rip a very young tree from the ground, and the tip is sensitive
enough to pick up a small needle. It can also use this trunk to make a blaring
noise that is not unlike a trumpeting. It is this they use to warn other
Thunderfeet or to display anger. The beast’s fur is also extremely warm, which
helps it survive the harsher climates it lives in. It also allows them to stand
the frigid waters that exist in the areas
they live. Their eyesight is very poor, although their sense of smell and
hearing are fantastic, so lack of good vision is of little hindrance to them.
Their tusks are also quite dangerous, and can be used as a
weapon, should one be foolish enough to
anger the creature.

Thunderfeet eat by roaming the Iceland’s coast, using their trunk to find
hrugchuck grass. They tear out as much of the plant as they can at a time with
their trunk. They then use the trunk as a hand and put the grass in their mouth,
eating the flowers and grass. They do the same at the edges of
water, searching for algae. Due to the
highly nutritious nature of flower, the Thunderfeet do not need to eat nearly as
much food as their size would suggest.

The Thunderfoot are extremely good swimmers. Their swimming abilities are
attributed to their remarkably light bones, and the layer of buoyant fat they
have, which also, along with its massive amount of hair, protects the beast from
the frigid temperatures of the waters of
its homeland. They swim by having their entire bodies immersed in the
water, while the tip of its trunk is kept
above water so that it may breath. While
underwater, they paddle with their strong legs, which along with the creature’s
natural buoyancy, keep it close to the surface of the
water. This technique of swimming is
extremely dangerous in rough waters, so
the Thunderfeet rarely swim during storms.

Territory.
Thunderfeet can be found in the northernmost parts of the
Sarvonian continent, in the Peninsula of
Iol and the Icelands Coast. There seems to be a small population in the Icelands
of Aeh’Os’th’er’Oc. There are also unconfirmed reports of some being found in
Cyhalloi, although these are only rumours.

Habitat/Behaviour.
The behaviour of the Thunderfoot depends greatly on their gender. The males and
females have greatly differing lives.

Thunderfeet Females. The females are the epitome of
the term ‘gentle giant’. They are one of the most peaceful creatures alive. They
have little fear, and fewer predators, except as calves. Yet they do have a
temper, albeit one that is rarely seen, so rare that few people even think that
these creatures even do get angry. However, when this temper is flaring, and
their trumpeting trunks are blaring, they are truly a fearsome sight to behold.
They are very social animals. They travel in small herds ranging from six to
about eighteen animals. Age and experience seems be the deciding factor of which
a female leads the herd. The eldest female is always the leader, and these
animals can live to a little over a hundred years. When the pack leader dies the
next oldest female takes control. They are extremely protective of the herd’s
young, which they communally help the mother raise. When threatened, the beasts
will form a defensive circle around the calves.

Mothers of Thunderfeet have been known to ‘mourn’ the death of children, staying
near their deceased young for possibly days. The entire herd will also take care
of sick or dying members of said herd, staying with them and bringing them food
should they need it.

Thunderfeet Males. Males, while gentle, have a much
shorter temper than their female counterparts. It is a saying among the
Ice Tribes, that one might ‘anger
a Thunderfoot’, which means he brings great ruin upon himself. Male Thunderfeet
are solitary creatures, usually leaving the herd at about age thirteen, and live
by themselves from this point on. It is right after they leave that the males
are at the greatest risk, for they are not fully grown, and no longer have the
protection of the herd, although they are still quite formidable. During the
mating months, the male seek out the female herds. Since there are more solitary
males than herds, males will often be vying for the affections of the females of
the same herd, which leads to titanic clashes (see Mating).

Some things are universal between both genders. For instance, as adults, these
behemoths have very few real predators; the humans
of the Ice Tribes, giants, and the
gigantic caracal, a very rare, and extremely deadly cat of the northern regions
of Northern Sarvonia. As calves,
however, things as small as a wolverine attack them.
Due to their lack of size and tusks, they are much more vulnerable, which is why
the herd is extremely careful with the young. Of course males, who lack the
protection of a herd, are more susceptible to being hunted, although a lone male
Thunderfoot is a still a force to be reckoned with!

Diet.
The Thunderfoot is a herbivore whose main source of food is a sort grass called
hrugchuck. They eat the grass and the highly nutritious flowers. The hrugchuck
has its main roots in small regions which are warmer and have an open
water source, from there roots are growing
for strals under the snow
in the frozen soil. It has a kind of liquid that keeps the plant from freezing,
which allows it to tunnel through the lightly frozen ground, and retrieve
nutrition from the frozen soil. The Thunderfoot uses its long trunk to dig
through the snow for this grass. Because of the large amount of this grass that
it consumes, the Thunderfoot has to consume a surprisingly small amount of
vegetation to stay healthy, for the hrugchuck’s flowers seems to allow animals
to eat far less food than would normally be needed. The Thunderfoot will
also eat algae or moss it finds, also under the snow or sometimes in lakes that
have not frozen over.

Mating.
The females go into heat between the Sleeping Dreameress and Passing Clouds. At
this time, the males from outside the herd start searching for the herd, and
often, more than one male will find it. The males will then battle each other
over mates. These titanic clashes consist of the two males connecting foreheads,
and pushing, their tusks are now interlocked, and from this position, each male
shakes their head violently, trying to knock the other off his feet. These
battles usually last a long time, but rarely result in anything more than minor
injuries. The winner then mates with the willing females of the herd. If a third
male comes upon the herd while two others are fighting, then the third male
waits for them to finish, then attempts to defeat the winner. The female will be
pregnant for roughly eighteen to twenty two months, and then give birth to the
calf. The calves are born with no tusks and very short hair. They are only a
ped tall and require
constant supervision, for fear of getting eaten.
Usages.
The Thunderfoot’s hair is extremely insulating. It can be used to cover huts for
the Ice Tribes,
or to cover the people themselves. Instead of making wool, the tribes’ people
merely use the entire hide, covered by the hair. They also have surprisingly
tasty meat, which the Ice Tribes
take advantage of as often as possible, although hunting one of these beasts is
not very conducive to a long life, for again, these animals are not to be riled
up. Of course, if one is able take down one of these behemoths, they could feed
a group of twenty people for over a week. The nomadic groups of the Ice Tribes
often use the extremely light, yet very durable bones of the creature to build
their tents. These bones can also be shaped into jewelry, which can be traded
for food and weapons. The bones also make
good weapons themselves, when shaped, for
they are strong, yet light.

Of course, the
Ice Tribes must kill a Thunderfoot before gaining
any of these materials. This is always a group effort, and always against a
solitary male, for the humans know they cannot
hope to defeat an entire heard of these angry titans. The way it is done is the
hunting party forms a circle around the beast, all the while making loud noises
in an attempt to confuse the beast. One or two particularly brave souls then act
as the ‘bait’, and distract the beast while the rest of the group attacks it
with any weapons they have, which,
ironically enough, are sometimes made of the beast’s bones. This is obviously
quite dangerous, especially for the very brave, or very foolish, tribesmen
acting as the bait, and thus, it is only practiced by the most experienced of
hunters.

Myth/Lore.
The
Ice Tribes often hear the Otorm-Nrv long before they actually see one, which
is why they have named the creature Thunderfoot in their own language. This is
thought to have led to their belief on how the Otorm-Nrv was created. The
Ice Tribes believe that the Thunderfoot was the result of the animals of
Brender, the
Ice Tribes' deity of Thunder, and Zundefor, the God of Land, mating before
the gods began their eternal war. Since then, they believe that Brender came
down in a storm, and came across his offspring, the Thunderfeet. He was proud of
the fruit of his loins, for it defied the other animals with its strength and
size. So he gave the creature a voice as loud as thunder, and that is how the
Ice Tribes believe the Otorm-Nrv developed its trumpeting capabilities:

“The ice tribes often
tell the tale of Brender and the Thunderfoot. They say that when the world
was young, a storm blew over the Icelands. It was Brender, coming to the
world. The storm came into the form of a man, a strong, angry man, who
seemed to shed light with his very skin. He came upon the Thunderfoot,
which was his offspring. He admired the creature’s size and strength, like
how it defied Zundefor’s beasts with its massiveness. He bestowed upon the
Thunderfoot a voice like thunder, so that it
might proclaim to all that he, Brender, was superior, even in the world of
beasts.”